Country Generosity
As I wrote in a previous post on Aussie Bloggers, my place of origin is the country town called Mildura. Mildura is located 550 kms north west of Melbourne and is a river city, with an agricultural based economy. Grapes and oranges are the dominant produce, but many farmers grow a wide variety of crops.
We visited Mildura over Easter and again I was impressed with the generosity of the country folk. Every time I visit, I return with a car full of fresh produce. My family doesn’t have a farm in Mildura, but friends of our family who do, and know that we are visiting will drop produce off to my parents for us.
This time we received a fantastic stash. One part of which was a huge bag of almonds. They were in their complete raw state – straight off the tree. It was a great lesson for my kids who had never seen almonds with their husks on them! Pumpkin soup is on the menu at our house for the next couple of weeks, as we also received a large bag of butternut pumpkins.
My sister’s in laws grow grapes and also have a large vegetable patch. When we visited them to show them our new baby, they gave us zucchinis, capsicums, eggplant and spinach.
I am always impressed by the generosity of country people. Whether it be sharing their freshly grown produce or opening their house to visitors, their warmth is over flowing.
This is not to say that Australian city folk are not generous people either, but to me the generosity of country people is a stand out attraction of visiting the country.
Have you experienced some country generosity?
I wonder if it comes from the days when country folk really relied on one another for their very survival?
Most likely. Many still swap their fresh produce amongst themselves and it really helps keep the grocery bill down!
[...] In last week’s menu plan post I wrote how we were lucky enough to receive a large bag of pumpkins when we were visiting family in the country. (This actually inspired a post for another blog that I write for Aussie Blogger’s Blog on Country Generority.) [...]
We are lucky enough to live in a inner city street that is dotted with community generosity – lemons, peaches, herbs, tomatoes – what ever is around gets swapped. Our adopted Nonna across the road quite often brings over a big bowl of yummy italian pasta or plate of cakes. Coming from the country, it makes me feel at home and is a fantastic life lesson for my kids.